In the end, Luz was led back into Liv's room.

"I wish I could stay with you there, but it would probably be better for me to visit my other siblings and pay attention to them. We don't want them to leave their cages so easily, right? Hahaha," Jasper told Luz with laughter.

The atmosphere turned awkward, and Jasper immediately left. Now Luz was alone in the room with the purple-haired sleeping beauty.

One perverted reader may use that opportunity, but Luz was way too worried to have any such thoughts, and his eyes were too fixed on Liv.

Meanwhile, her facial expression had relaxed, and her breathing became regular.

Luz slowly reached his trembling hands toward her cheek, but before his fingers touched her pale skin, Jodoc yawned loudly.

He took his hand immediately back as the parrot asked him: "What were you trying to do, and what are your plans now?"

Sighing, Luz replied: "Well, I was merely trying to measure her temperature. I'll try finishing the soul-consuming part as fast as possible after she awakes."

The parrot nodded in agreement before stating: "Better so. I don't want to remain here any longer. Anyway, if we are here already, we might as well search it through."

Before Luz could tell Jodoc that one shouldn't search through the private stuff from someone, the latter immediately landed on the nightstand where a small but dirty old book was.

It had the size of a Din A6 page. The perfect size to carry such a book with one, wherever one goes. But the weirdest thing was that the title: "diary," was written in a brown color.

"Jodoc, come back here, immediately," whispered Luz walking towards the latter, who merely commented: "Luz, I found a diary," as he opened the cover.

When Luz reached Jodoc, he saw an entry from a few months ago.

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"Magical research Institute for medicine.

Regarding the following issue:

「Clinical trials of various parasite species to identify better-suited species for symbiosis with humans with negligible adverse effects.」

date: censored

「The situation grows more complex by the day. Everyone working here is in disagreement at every step of the experiment making it more frustrating. As long as we are in such a state, progress is impossible.」

date:  censored

「Group number 5.12.2 is of the opinion that the host must consume the soul of the parasite and make it part of himself. Group number 5.12.1, however, thinks that one should strive for a true symbiosis instead of becoming one with the parasites.

Although both research groups seem to have their own merits as the research director of this project, I cannot agree with either party.」

date:  censored

「Group 5.12.1 Xenohuman's seem to have fewer adverse reactions than the latter group and is probably the right approach to create resource-friendly armies.

But unfortunally, their way seems to be flawed in a different unique way. These people have synchronization issues with their parasites. The higher the synchronization between the host and its parasite is, the higher the potential of the host is. Unfortunally most people have pretty low synchronization rates, and it gets even worse.

The host's synchronization rate can also depend on which specific parasite species he gets, making any kind of research harder. Also, the synchronization seems to decrease with each passing day, resulting in negligible power boosts as they also get overtaken by their parasites.」

date: censored

「Group 5.12.2 way of thought creates individual monsters who can use their parasites to the fullest potential. Unfortunally, these patients lose their sanities quickly since two minds get fused. Also, the chances of failure are around 85%. This number excludes the ones who got insane. However, the number of subjects, estimated to be sane, is 2%.

Even then, the adverse reaction these members carry isn't worth the cost and effort in creating them. Unfortunally we don't know how these parasites evolve with their host.」

date: censored

「As of now, it seems like the older the patient is, and the earlier it begins consuming the souls of the parasites, the higher the chances of creating beings that resemble sane monsters.

However, their parasites don't evolve as fast as the parasites from younger patients. Also, even if two patients carry the same parasite, their abilities will be expressed slightly differently.

Potential solutions for the problem:

Fill the brains of young ones with memory bloats to reduce the influence of the memories from the parasite. The only problem is: specialists who focus on memories are too expensive and not included in our budget.」

date: censored

「So far, we've identified a few parasites that have negligible adverse effects. Most patients seem to lose a lot of youth/life energy after a parasite gets forced into symbiosis with them.

The adverse effects range from mild unending hunger to losing one's mind. In the worst-case scenario, one might end up as a parasite slave.」

date: censored

「Currently, only the parasites from test subject: 5.12.1.54, 5.12.1.233, 5.12.2.101, 5.12.2.124, 5.12.2.204" seem to be promising.

Parasite from test subject 5.12.1.154 seems to have an acceptable synchronization rate with most subjects tested. On the contrary patient, 5.12.1.233 achieved a synchronization rate of around 100%, making it just as strong as the other subjects from group two.

Interestingly, we found a few sane subjects from group 2, making the experiments more promising than we thought. We didn't really put any thought into awakening our test subjects before starting our experiments on them. But they awoke their mage talents through symbiosis.

This point alone could be of interest in researching further.」

date: censored

「Patient 5.12.1.154 was found brain dead. The morning before his death, he muttered: "I can hear voices inside my head," like a broken record. His death is quite a shame, but maybe he had some mental illness.」

date: censored

「More patients from group one killed themselves even when we were next to them. Patient 5.12.1.233, however, still seems to do fine. From now on, we'll be focussing more on group two. Concerning test subject 5.12.2.204, we should…"」

***********************************************************************************************

But before the duo could read any further, a sharp voice stated: "I never remember allowing you two to read that journal," bringing Luz back to reality.

Author note: It seems like I've got a lot of calls. For those wondering where yesterday's chapter was, look no further than to chapter 1. I've edited it/ wrote it from scratch before splicing it into two different chapters. It would make me happy if you guys could tell me what you think of it.